Hansa - Red Line War
The Hansa - Red Line War was a conflict in the metro not long after the Great War. The war involved the Red Line pitted against The Anti-Communist Coalition led by Hansa. Prelude The war started as a consquence of the Sokol Line Revolution. Many Communist sympathisers in the metro gathered at Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchhad station and formed a communist government. Soon afterwards the station next to Preobrazhenskaya caught wind of this optimistic revolution and joined in. Then the station on the other side of the tunnel voluntarily joined and so on until most of the Sokol Line had fallen under the Communist's banner. As a result, The Sokol Line was officially renamed "The Red Line" as it was already popularly known. However, the revolution remained confined to the Sokol Line since stations outside the line, especially Hansa, were unwilling to submit to communist rule. Furthermore, Hansa desired to unite the northern and southern arcs of their territory sperated by the Red Line. Speakers and agitators of the Red Line were arrested and thrown back into communist territory. In response, the leadership of the Red Line decided that it was time to spread the revolution throughout the entirety of the metro by any means necessary. The War The Red Line mobilised an army to take over the surrounding stations; however, the easy victory that the Communist leadership hoped to achieve remained elusive. Hansa, The Arbat Confederation, and other free stations joined together to form the Anti-Communist Coalition. The Coalition stopped the Red Line advance but wastun able to break the Red Line's defenses. The war bogged down into a stalemate lasting for almost a year and a half. Much fighting occured: massive army operations, encirclements, breaching encirclements, attacks, counterattacks, and more reprisal attacks, geurrilla excursions, and the continueing fortification of stations. Numerous atrocities were committed by both sides including the killing of prisoners, the massacring of civilians, and the utilization of flamethrowers. On occasion one side mannaged to take a station only to be pushed out the next day, resuming the stalemate. The war exhausted precious resources and drained the metro of its best manpower. Those who surrvived quickly grew weary of the conflict. As the war progressed, the Red Line leadership dropped its goal of spreading revolution to the entire metro and instead set their sights on capturing the Revolution Square from the Coalition. The Revolution Square was the station closest to the Red Square and the Lenin Mausoleum on the surface. Since these monuments held great symbolic value for the Communists, the station's defenders were determined to fight the Reds to the last man. Gathering a force at Okhotnyi Ryad, now renamed Prospect Marx, the Reds attacked Revolution Square which was heavily fortified. The Battle of Revolution Square became one of the bloodiest incidents in the entire war and was the scene of many heroic actions. Men who had taken several bullets to the chest kept on fighting. Soldiers voluntarily strapped grenades to their bodies to take out enemy gun positions. In the end, the determined Red assault was fruitless and the Coalition continued to hold Revolution Square. In the same manner, the Coalition's attempts to take Lenin Library to cut the Red Line in half were equally unsuccessful and fruitless. Despite concerted attacks, the Coalition ultimately could not penetrate the Communist defenses at Lenin Library. Peace Treaty The long lasting war posed a major problem for both sides. The populace on both sides had grown tired of the endless struggle and started to voice dissent. Furthermore, desertion spread through the ranks of both armies. All too often, military confrontations resulted in both sides laying down their arms and deserting together. The patriotic fervor that characterised communist revolution slowly faded, weakening the Red Line Government's grip over its citizens. Likewise, trade between stations ground to a halt since caravan routes had been disrupted diminishing Hansa's wealth and influence. The politicians, who found themselves losing support from their both their populace and army, had to act quickly if they wanted to stay in power. In great secrecy at a neutral station, Comrade Moskvin of the Red Line, Prime Minister Loginov of the Hansa, and the Head of the Arbat Confederation Kolpakov drafted and signed a peace treaty. Under its terms, the Arbat Confederation gave the Revolution Square to the Red Line, and in turn the Red Line gave the Lenin Library to the Arbat Confederation. The signing of the peace accords was no small achievement since the Confederation lost most of its influence in the north-west and the Red Line was cut in half. In the end, Hansa recieved the best terms from the peace treaty since the accords allowed them to secure the entire central ring of stations and dominate the majority of the metro's caravan trade. Aftermath Both sides claimed that their leaders had made an extrordinary diplomatic feat and that they were the victors. The Arbat Confederatin was sevearly weakend by the war and at the time of Metro 2033 it was only a Hansa satellitt state. The fire of the Red Line Revolution was exhausted. The Red Line leadership consolidated their power over what was left of the Red Line and the line became a police state under the deperate communist leadership. The true victors of the war was Hansa as the peace trreaty required all factions free acsess trough their territory, Hansa was able to close the ring and unite the northern and the suthern arc. Ultimatly Hansa became the richest, largest and most powerfull faction in the metro. Some time after the war a fascist faction took over Chekhovskaya, Pushkinskaya and Tverskaya and formed the Fourth Reich to oppose the Red Line and ridd the metro of non-russinas. Category:Novel